Synthesis of pyrrolidinone derivatives from aniline, an aldehyde and diethyl acetylenedicarboxylate in an ethanolic citric acid solution under ultrasound irradiation

The ultrasound-promoted one-pot multicomponent synthesis of substituted 3-pyrrolin-2-ones using citric acid as a green additive in a green solvent is reported. Citric acid catalyzed the reaction efficiently without the need for any other harmful organic reagents. Clean reaction profile, easy work-up procedure, excellent yields and short reaction times are some remarkable features of this method. The utilization of ultrasound irradiation makes this method potentially very useful, fast, clean and convenient. In this study, we reported a simple and efficient route for the one-pot sonochemical synthesis of substituted 3-pyrrolin-2-ones by citric acid as an additive.